Last Sunday was my birthday! Still in my twenties, so birthdays are still a bit exciting - but there's nothing like celebrating your birthday with 22 kids! I've had one of the most fun birthdays I think I've ever had - missed all of you or course, but had a great new experience to substitute. Here's a bit about the day.....
I began the morning with a small sleep in which was great, followed by skype session / phone call with the fam, before Marty and I headed to the children's home around 1.30pm. We had invited all the staff and their families to gather for a celebration together. Ashirvad celebrate birthdays of staff and children once a month - there was only one other child's birthday in September, Chanchal, who's birthday is also on the 23rd, so we were the stars of the show!
This was a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the families of the staff - and they are very proud to show off their own families!
Chanchal and I were ushered in to the main dining room by all the children. It had been beautifully decorated by them, and there was a cake with those trick candles that keep relighting for a bit of fun. There were several speeches and a lot of kind words, cake cutting, gift-giving and cards made by the kids. We enjoyed a lunch of chicken biryani with juice, followed by bananas.
Then my favourite part of the day....pass the parcel!! Marty and I had made one for the girls and one for the boys. The boys' parcel had small toys like matchbox cars and UNO cards. The girls' one had hair clips, headbands and that sort of thing. After a bit of initial confusion with my explanation of the game in English, coupled with a bit of charades, the game got going and the kids of course loved it.
The rest of the afternoon was spent playing games outside - skipping, hula hoops, badminton, football (soccer) etc and into the evening. It was a truly great day.
We are really enjoying getting to know the kids more and more - my Hindi is slowly improving, as is their English, so day by day we can communicate and share more together. Obed and Binita, the house parents here, gave birth to their first baby this week - very exciting! A boy, named Jeremiah (Jeremy for short). While they take some leave, Marty and I are filling in at the children's home. This is great, because we are getting a real taste of day to day life in the home - what it's like for the staff, and their different roles - as well as hanging out with the kids lots more. Yesterday we ate with them, supervised and assisted their study time and put them to bed, as well as a dance competition somewhere in there - too much fun. The kids are opening up to us more and more everyday, and it's so beautiful to see how one on one time and attention nurtures them so much and makes such a difference in their lives - what a privilege it is to be here and to spend time with them. Wish you all could be here to see it too and experience the joy.....
I began the morning with a small sleep in which was great, followed by skype session / phone call with the fam, before Marty and I headed to the children's home around 1.30pm. We had invited all the staff and their families to gather for a celebration together. Ashirvad celebrate birthdays of staff and children once a month - there was only one other child's birthday in September, Chanchal, who's birthday is also on the 23rd, so we were the stars of the show!
This was a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the families of the staff - and they are very proud to show off their own families!
Chanchal and I were ushered in to the main dining room by all the children. It had been beautifully decorated by them, and there was a cake with those trick candles that keep relighting for a bit of fun. There were several speeches and a lot of kind words, cake cutting, gift-giving and cards made by the kids. We enjoyed a lunch of chicken biryani with juice, followed by bananas.
Then my favourite part of the day....pass the parcel!! Marty and I had made one for the girls and one for the boys. The boys' parcel had small toys like matchbox cars and UNO cards. The girls' one had hair clips, headbands and that sort of thing. After a bit of initial confusion with my explanation of the game in English, coupled with a bit of charades, the game got going and the kids of course loved it.
The rest of the afternoon was spent playing games outside - skipping, hula hoops, badminton, football (soccer) etc and into the evening. It was a truly great day.
We are really enjoying getting to know the kids more and more - my Hindi is slowly improving, as is their English, so day by day we can communicate and share more together. Obed and Binita, the house parents here, gave birth to their first baby this week - very exciting! A boy, named Jeremiah (Jeremy for short). While they take some leave, Marty and I are filling in at the children's home. This is great, because we are getting a real taste of day to day life in the home - what it's like for the staff, and their different roles - as well as hanging out with the kids lots more. Yesterday we ate with them, supervised and assisted their study time and put them to bed, as well as a dance competition somewhere in there - too much fun. The kids are opening up to us more and more everyday, and it's so beautiful to see how one on one time and attention nurtures them so much and makes such a difference in their lives - what a privilege it is to be here and to spend time with them. Wish you all could be here to see it too and experience the joy.....
Marty putting 'pass the parcel' together
Hanging more decorations
One of the mothers with her three children,
who are staying in the children's home - Om, Yamini and Harsh
Kaz with Sonno, Suresh and Pravin
Devika looking great in her sari
Anita, Sajel, Yamini
Apsana, Santoshi, Pooja
Doyal and Harsh
Rohit and Ankit
Om and David
Ashish and Daniel
Ashish opening 'pass the parcel'
Anita opening 'pass the parcel'
The boys with their prizes
Kaz with all the kids
2 comments:
Happy Birthday Karen! Glad to hear you had a great day.
I'm sure in years to come this one will stand out in your memories..
Amanda
Marty & Kaz - what a blessing it is to come here from time to time and to catch up on life - as you are living it. It is awesome to see the great pics and to hear the fantastic story that God is indeed writing through both of you. The children are so precious and it brings back lots of memories. They are so colourful!! We trust you had an tremendous birthday - we didi miss you especially in our own celebrations of life AND love, but we are so excited when we read these updates - THANKS for faithfully doing them. Looking forward to some chapattis and maybe backyard blitz :) Love The Popps.
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